Harvest Moon Festival at Callaway Gardens - Relaxation, Music, Food and Fun!

My husband works many hours a week.. many, many, many hours. It is unusual for him to get weekends, two consecutive days or holidays off which means that we don’t spend nearly enough time together as a family. That’s why when I learned about the Harvest Moon Festival at Callaway Gardens and saw that he was off one of the days that the festival was going on, I jumped on the opportunity to go. A day with my husband and kids at Callaway Gardens, listening to great bands, eating food, and enjoying the beautiful weather.. how much better could it get?

Callaway Gardens Harvest Moon Festival - Gin Blossoms, Big Heat Todd and the Monsters, Mat Kearny

Top left - Big Heat Todd and the Monsters. Top right - Mat Kearny. Bottom left - Gin Blossoms

The four-day festival is a celebration of the harvest and of man and nature’s fruitful coexistence, combining farm-to-table foods, ecocentric vendors, cooking and gardening demonstrations, fun and educational activities for children, and of course, an unprecedented lineup of big-name bands.

Callaway Gardens is a family vacation resort located in Pine Mountain Georgia. The lands at Callaway have been nourished for over half a century from barren eroded agricultural fields and managed forest into the diverse, beautiful combination of gardens, resort, preserve and community lands it represents today.

There were two stages set up for the bands to perform. The outdoor stage was right on the beach and there was a stage in a large tent which was set up like a dance club. I would have loved to have spent more time in the tent (can you say.. relaxing?) but the kids were anxious to get back outside and enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather so I gave in after listening to an amazing band, Already Taken, perform a few songs. The group Already Taken consists of members who range in age from 11 to 15, two sets of siblings and a very good friend. They were absolutely amazing and I would make every effort to see them again.

The Vendor Village featured an array of beautiful handmade jewelry, handcrafted wooden bowls, and other hand crafted items. My husband’s favorite booth was the homemade fudge booth (my husband visited the fudge booth twice!). My kids had a blast playing with a hand-made bouncy ball frisbee toy we bought at one of the booths.

The kids had the time of their lives playing on the playground, running along the beach shore, and throwing a shoot star (like a frisbee) we purchased at one of the vendor booths, on the lawn. “This is the best day EVER” is what my 12 year old son said to me about half way into the day. Thanks Callaway Gardens and Harvest Moon Festival.. he doesn’t say that lightly. The festival is set up so that visitors can lay out a picnic blanket or set up camping chairs then walk around as you’d like. We spent most of the day Saturday listening to the bands, walking through the Vendor Village, playing on the beach (the world’s largest fresh water beach actually) and eating. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

The food options were good although I’d like to see a wider variety of healthy and organic food (and snack) options available next year. The typical festival food, pizza, philly sandwiches, and hot dogs, were available and there was an area were Kabobs could be purchased. One thing I would like to see different next year is the use of Festival Bucks. I prefer to use cash or credit when purchasing food, drinks, and snacks at a festival. Honestly, I probably would have spent more money on food if we didn’t have to buy and use festival bucks.

Musicians we saw perform at Harvest Moon Festival Saturday:

I was thoroughly impressed with the lineup of musicians that Callaway Gardens/Harvest Moon Festival secured and can’t wait to see the line up for next year. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to attending other Callaway Garden events including the upcoming Nature Naturally Outdoor Weekend and Festival of Lights, opening mid-November.

You can view more photographs from our visit to Callaway Gardens Harvest Moon Festival on my Facebook page here or below..

“Harvest Moon Festival – October 2011“